


The Tale of Mai

by prrincessyue



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Character Study, F/M, Oneshot, Unrequited Love, maiko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 10:39:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11439126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prrincessyue/pseuds/prrincessyue
Summary: When Mai has a day off in Ba Sing Se, she set off to find her childhood crush, Zuko. This takes her all around the City, but when she finally does find him she soon realizes that it would not be the reunion she wants.The Tale of Mai in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se"





	The Tale of Mai

**Author's Note:**

> In the book 2 episode of Avatar the Last Airbender, "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", we see short stories for each charecter, all of which I think accurately reflect their personalities and what's important to them. The tales we don't see are Mai, Ty Lee's and Azula's.  
> For the purpose of this story I changed it a bit so that Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula were already in Ba Sing Se at this point. I made it so that Zuko and Iroh already had the Jasmine Dragon at this point too.  
> Anyway, enjoy the Tale of Mai!

    _The Tale of Mai_

    Mai rifled through the rack, feeling more and more disgusted with each piece of fabric she set her hands on. She was in the finest dress shop in all of Ba Sing Se, according to Joo Dee, but Mai didn't like any of the dresses. They were all so _green._

    "Can I help you?" a mature sounding feminine voice said, and Mai looked over to see it was coming from the woman behind the counter who had nodded at her when she came in. Mai sighed, setting the silky wrap-around dress she had in her hands back on the rack.

    "Please," she replied. The woman emerged from behind the counter, and Mai saw that the she was the seamstress behind all the clothes; she had what was shaping up to be a skirt in one hand and a needle and thread in the other, all of which she left on the counter.

   "You aren't wearing one of my pieces now, are you?" she asked. "I don't recognize it."

    Mai glanced down at the stolen Kyoshi Warrior outfit she was wearing. It was all she had that wasn't Fire Nation, which was precisely why she was there. 

    "It's just my fighting clothes. I'm visiting, I didn't think i'd need much else. Turns out I do." She lamented.

    The seamstress smiled warmly."What's the occcasion?"

 _Occasion_.

    Mai felt herself blushing, and wished she had the thick Kyoshi Warrior makeup on.

    "I just met some friends who I didn't know were here before. We're gonna go out, all together. That's all." She said hurriedly. She was surprised to find herself tripping over her words and wondered why she sounded so defensive. It was true, she really couldn't wear these fighting clothes for this occasion- that'd be almost as bad as wearing Fire Nation attire.

    If the seamstress picked up on Mai's blush, or rushed words, she didn't show it. 

    "Casual..." was all she said, as she began to look through the rack.

* * *

    Back in their guest chambers in the Earth Kingdom's palace, Mai was surprised to see that both Ty Lee and Azula were gone. She knew that Azula had said thy could have the day off, but she didn't think that Azula herself would actually be taking any time off at all.            

    She was also disappointed that Ty Lee was gone - she didn't really want to do this alone - but she shouldn't have expected her to stay put all day. Mai had left early in the morning for some alone time, something she didn't get much of travelling with her friends, and she hadn't returned until the afternoon.

    Not able to do anything about it now, Mai quickly got dressed in her new dress and fussed with her long, glossy black hair, making sure her signature 2 buns into pigtails had held up and that her bangs weren't messy.                                        

    Satisfied, she found a full length mirror in the bathroom and thoroughly took in the dress for the first time. In the store, Mai had just grabbed the first dress the seamstress suggested without even a second glance, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

    The dress was more fancy than she had anticipated, with a shorter and sleeveless layer of deep emerald green silk over a cotten, lighter green layer that peeked out the bottom and had long sleeves. It had a high waistband made of the cotton fabric and a shawl made of the silk fabric, but Mai discovered that she could dissatatch the shawl and did so. She didn't want it to look like she cared _that_ much.

    She turned her attention away from the dress and studied her face in the mirror. The same girl stared back at her as always; light skin, tawny eyes, sharp nose, thin lips, pointed chin, and a bored expression. She tried a smile on for size but immediately frowned again, feeling silly. Her usual unamused expression would have to do.  

* * *

    The streets were surprisingly busy for the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, with mainly middle aged people walking leisurely in silk green dresses and tunics or sitting in an ostrich horse drawn wagon, chatting with eachother and shopping.

    Dodging out of the way of yet another civilian, Mai huffed. She hated walking, and was used to people making way for her-or, atleast making way for Azula, who she was always in the wake of.

    Just when she was wondering if this place really existed at all, it finally came in to view:

 _The Jasmine Dragon_.

    Mai stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. She had seen it and had her suspicions on the way to the palace, but she could have easily gotten the sign wrong or even just imagined it. Now that she'd found it again, it was just time to see if her suspicions were right.

    As she got closer, Mai heard the same laugh that had caught her ears on the way to the palace and that gave her any reason to think that this place was important at all. Raspy and heartfelt, it sounded an awful lot like her old friend General Iroh.

    And where there was Iroh, there was Zuko.

* * *

    "Yeah, thats fine," Mai told the the fidgeting barista impatiently, taking her steaming cup of tea and suppressing the urge to wince at the heat. The barista spouted something about being sorry and making it too strong and was she sure?

    She ignored him and sat down at the first table she came across, cursing herself for the millionth time since she'd entered the tea shop. Why in Agni's name had she decided to come in to this tea shop, a block down from The Jasmine Dragon, rather than actually going to The Jasmine Dragon _?_ Mai grunted. Even as she asked herself this, she knew exactly why.

    When she had gotten close enough to the store to hear Iroh's laugh, her heart was already beating a million miles a minute. She already couldn't focus, wasn't herself, and she hadn't even seen Zuko yet. Which was foolish, because it was just _Zuko_. But that wasn't why she couldn't go in.When he'd finally came in to Mai's line of vision, she hardly even recognized him. He was so unrecognizable that she couldn't really be sure until she saw the left side of his face. But that wasn't why she couldn't go in, either. It also wasn't because she was standing there for so long that when Zuko cast a funny look the slightest bit in her direction she was sure it was at her. It wasn't even because she thought he was flirting with that adorably innocent looking girl with the braids, and caught Iroh egging him on. All of that she could take.

    What she couldn't take was how _happy_ he looked. She hadn't seen him that happy, or happy at all, in a really, really long time. Not since his mother. Looking back on it, he didn't even look close to happy when she'd agreed to go out with him, right before he was banished.

    But now he was happy. Here he was, in exile with no fine belongings, without his throne or father's love or so called honour back, perfectly happy. He didn't need any of those things to be happy- in fact, it seemed he was much happier without them- and he didn't need her either.

    Seeing her wouldn't make him happy at all, it would just be really surprising and he'd probably think Azula was nearby. She didn't even know why she'd thought of going in in the first place. It was stupid, really. Stupid and foolish and annoyingly optimistic- it was so unlike her.

    So she didn't go in 

* * *

    Mai handed the barista her empty teacup and pay, and told him to keep the change. He opened his mouth to thank her but stopped, his eyes catching on something behind her. She started to see his expression brighten before turning around to see what it was, and in an instant two bodies were blurring by her and crashing in to eachother in an embrace.

    "Cho!" the barista cried, addressing who Mai now saw was a woman about the seamstress's age, in dirty clothes with messy hair.                                            

    "I thought i'd never see you again," she said in to his shoulder, and the apparent couple stayed like that, holding eachother in their arms for an impossibly long time.

    Normally, Mai would have rolled her eyes, but this time she just looked on in disbelief. Was that what she'd given up with Zuko, all because he'd looked a little happy? Ofcourse, they weren't a couple, at all; they were only kids when they'd agreed to date and didn't even get to go on a first date before not seeing eachother for 3 years. Even still, Mai thought about him all the time in those 3 years, and up until now she had just kind of absentmindedly assumed that he thought about her too. Even though she knew now that that was an embarrassingly ridiculous thing to assume, perhaps Mai had overreacted a bit before. Besides, the _barista_  couldn't have a better love life than her. 

    She didn't stay to watch the happy couple passionately make out and never learned what had forced them apart in the first place. Instead, she was hurrying back to the Jasmine Dragon.Suddenly she didn't feel so stupid and foolish, although it really, really still was.

* * *

    Mai wasn't surprised to see that it was already pretty dark out. She had headed to The Jasmine Dragon in the early evening, for some reason not wanting to give herself a full day with Zuko. Now she could only hope that the tea shop would still be open, or that she'd be able to get to him some other way.

    She weaved through the crowded streets, hope coursing through her veins. Yes, they were only children when a blushing Zuko had given her a fire lily and claimed that he "really liked her and thought she was really pretty", but that didn't mean that they didn't have years of friendship behind that, years of Mai hiding her flushed cheeks whenever he did something cute and Zuko presumably doing the same for her.

    Mai smiled. Thinking about that actually put her in a good mood, and she apologized when accidentally brushing against someone's shoulder. Even when she arrived at a closed Jasmine Dragon, her mood didn't dampen. Instead she raised her had to knock, but stopped when she could see that only Iroh was in there, sweeping up. She considered asking him where Zuko was, but decided it would be safest to look for herself first. She may have changed her clothes, but Iroh still knew that Mai was working with Azula and he probably wouldn't fully trust her.

    Mai circled around the block, peeking in store windows and even entering the ones that were still open and that she thought might interest Zuko. It was no use, though. This was a big City and she didn't know why she'd thought it would be so easy to find him in it, especially when he could just be sleeping in some room in the upstairs of the Jasmine Dragon right now.

    It was either talk to Iroh or go back to the palace, and Mai really didn't know which to do. She was starting to feel pretty silly again- what was she even planning on doing when she saw Zuko? What was Zuko supposed to think? His childhood crush who was now working with his hated sister just shows up on his doorstep and he's supposed to...what? Embrace her, let her in? Proclaim how happy he is to see her and how much he missed her? They were just... it was stupid. But at the same time, she couldn't stop seeing that couple in the tea shop. Mai sighed, not knowing what to do. 

* * *

    As she was slowly making her way back towards the Jasmine Dragon- still not sure if she was going to go in or not- there was a sudden flash of brightness from somewhere close by. Mai squinted in the light, careful not to get her hopes up. That couldn't be fire, could it? It most certainly couldn't be Zuko's firebending, she told herself.

    Still, she found herself following what had turned into a dim glow and started to be able to see a fountain with a ring of candles around it in the distance. She surveyed the area and gasped, hope and excitement bubbling up again when she saw Zuko's profile standing in the centre of the circle. Maybe this was where he came to practise his firebending, when he thought nobody was looking.

    And then Mai saw the next thing: A girl walking towards Zuko. her heart sunk but she still held her breath, wondering if they were there separately. Zuko was never all that romantic, after all, was he?  

    The girl moved in to the light and Mai's blood turned cold; it was the girl with the braids, but this time her hair was up in a ponytail. Was that her idea of fancy? Mai developed an instant hatred for the girl even before she grabbed Zuko's hand and leaned in to kiss him. When she did that, Mai wondered if her aim was precise enough to throw a knife right in her eye.

* * *

    Mai turned away sharply before she could see the rest. There was no reason in standing there dumbfounded, she was smarter than that. Even as she told herself this and ran home, she wished she'd never done all that, done it all for Zuko. Mai felt like throwing up and all her thoughts were coming too fast, her mind in a panic. Her skin burned red hot against her icy insides, but this time in shame and embarrassment rather than in infatuation like all those years ago.

    Even if she was a million times better than that mess of a girl, she was still the loser in this case. That girl was in a ring of fire kissing Zuko, who even trusted her enough to show her his firebending, and Mai was still just a naive girl, stuck in her and Zuko's childhood. She hated herself for that.

    Maybe there was something there before, but that was 3 years ago when all it would have been anyway was skipping rocks together. A lot can change in 3 years, and now all her and Zuko ever were and ever would be were childhood friends. He'd never really liked her like he liked that girl at all, she thought.

   She also realized painfully that she still liked him much, much more than that.

    She felt her heat breaking and angrily wiped at the single tear running down her left cheek. Yet again Mai felt like the dumbest person alive- why couldn't she have realized all of that sooner? How did she get stuck in fantasy land? She had always been a realist.

    Realist or not, she was such an idiot - but she'd never let herself get hurt like that again. 

    She couldn't get back to the Palace fast enough.

* * *

    When Mai finally got back to the chambers in the Palace, her usual dullness shielded Azula and Ty Lee from how empty she was feeling by now. They both seemed to think she was perfectly normal, even as her heart was broken. When Azula asked what she got up to, she didn't tell her that Zuko was in Ba Sing Se. She told herself it was because it would be embarrassing to tell the story, not because she didn't want Azula to find him, not because after all of that she was still protecting him. Instead, she flatly told Azula that she went dress shopping and rolled her eyes.

    She glowered at everything in her path and threw her knives at the wall-Azula and Ty Lee wouldn't even notice anything was wrong anyway. Then she went to bed early and neither of them questioned it.

    Although she went to bed so early, Mai was still up all night, tossing and turning and regretting and hating. It was only when she was sure Azula and Ty Lee were asleep that she finally let herself sob in to her pillow. Even while her sobs shook her entire body and her tears clouded her vision, she distracted herself, she reminded herself why she was there.

    She couldn't wait to take down Ba Sing Se so she could get out of the god awful city.

 

* * *

_The End_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'll be doing the Tale of Ty Lee and Azula next


End file.
